{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

breaking news

’60s saw two sheriffs survive indictments

Palm Beach County has a long line of sheriffs. Some had distinguished careers, some not so much, and some who were declared either incompetent or corrupt or both by bodies as august as grand juries and legislative committees.

For pure circus, it’s hard to top the first few years of the 1960s. At one time, the sheriff and a former sheriff were under indictment. Both would be acquitted.

John F. Kirk (above) served from 1945 to 1960. He rode herd on the county’s postwar boom and early civil rights struggles and is credited with hiring the first black deputy. Kirk was replaced by Martin Kellenberger.

It’s hard to get a less ringing endorsement than this from a state Senate committee in August 1962. It said law enforcement in the county had been “grossly neglected and has reached a state of almost complete collapse.”

Since Kellenberger (above) came on in January 1961, it said, “conditions and practices did not improve.”

Kellenberger, testifying to a grand jury, had denied paying a snitch. He then went to his attorney, saying a law protected him from revealing information about confidential informers, so lying was OK, right?

He discovered it was not.

Kellenberger went back to the grand jury and tried to correct himself but was rebuffed. He was indicted Aug. 18 and suspended.

Just weeks later, on Sept. 27, former Sheriff Kirk was charged with taking bribes from gambling interests. He was acquitted in January 1962.

Then, in October, Kellenberger was acquitted. He later was indicted again, but prosecutors opted not to pursue charges. The Senate committee did say Kellenberger “surrounded himself with deputies and other personnel with highly questionable characters, some of whom had criminal records.”

But it said there was no evidence to link Kellenberger to any of the prostitution, gambling, drugs and moonshine running rampant in the county.

The committee said it doubted Kellenberger was competent to be sheriff but that it had been the duty of voters to decide that in 1960, not the Senate.

View Comments
0

There are no comments yet. Be the first to post your thoughts. Sign in or register.